The National Park Service has counted 1,825 Burmese pythons that have been caught in and around Everglades National Park since 2000. Among the largest so far was a 156-pound, 16.4-foot one captured earlier this month.

That's a ton of snakes! More than I would have ever thought, but it makes sense considering the environment those suckers are living in. The article goes on to note the dramatic decline in small mammals around the everglades. I wonder why!

There's an alarmist theme to these everglades/constricting snake articles, and I get why, but this isn't the first time in the history of the world an animal from another continent has been introduced here and thrived. Horses and wild hogs are just two critters that come to mind. Since the Burmese Python and other huge snakes are doing so well here, it's only a matter of time before their names end up a paper tag on the end of a hunting license. And honestly, who wouldn't want one stuffed on their wall with a tall, fictional tale of taking down such a beast?

So that brings me to the question of the day: What gun for a massive python? Colt Python? Will there be an archery season? Chris Brackett will sure be excited. Will it be added to the Super Slam? Someone will have to call Jim Shockey and tell him to bring his smokepole. Personally, I would forgo the treestand and take after a trophy constrictor with a spear and loincloth. More sporting that way.

I wonder what a Boone & Crocket score would look like:

Burmese pythons can grow to be 26 feet long and more than 200 pounds, and they have been known to swallow animals as large as alligators. They and other constrictor snakes kill their prey by coiling around it and suffocating it.

There's a picture of one of them coiled around a good sized alligator, and you've all by now seen the picture of the one that died while eating a huge gator. It's like Jurassic Park down there!

Monday, January 30, 2012

This is the start of something very interesting. When the ATF says that a particular brand of copper brass bullet is banned because it's "armor piercing," how long before other manufacturer's bullets are banned?

Something else to think of - California is a "lead free zone" so to speak, so this really hoses the millions of rifle shooters there. And isn't it a bad idea to ban a bullet designed to penetrate deep into large dangerous critters based on the idea that it penetrates so deeply?

I used to think I couldn't cook to save my life, but this weekend I discovered that I have some talent. In this case, I'm not talking about cooking food; I'm talking about cooking plastic!

Like a black hole, I've been pulling in all sorts of tools for a special project that I've been working on for about half a year, and while I was at it I picked up some tools for making kydex holsters. I successfully made three holsters this weekend, though I only have pictures of one. This is the second holster I made, this time for the P30 -- here is the inside piece of kydex sitting with it in the kydex press while the outside piece cooks in the oven:

The first holster was for a PM9, and the learning curve told me to block the ejection port and tape it with blue painter's tape. I tried to get a picture of the inside of the oven, but it came out kind of gross, so I deleted it. After the piece cooks for 8 - 10 minutes (270 degrees worked best for me), I slid the piece off the bottom of the flat cookie sheet and onto the press, quickly sat the gun on the pencil marks I made, and locked it down:

Here's what it looks like when it's done cooling, which takes around 10 more minutes:

I cut two pieces, leaving an ear on the front side to fold over for a "wedge" to tuck the grip for AIWB carry:

As you can see, there's plenty of definition from the molding. Too much, actually; you have to work the piece over carefully with a heat gun to fine tune it, because if you don't the gun will be stuck fast. It's easiest to mold each side by itself so you have time to possition the gun properly and get a good mold. The two halves are held together with rivets, and to do that you need rivetting dies which I used with an arbor press. I really should have taken pictures of that process, which I'll have to do with the next holster I make. Once the two halves are riveted together, I trim them to shape on a bandsaw and rough finish the edges with a belt grinder and a 120 belt, finishing up with a file and some hand sanding:

Not the greatest picture, I know. I took that one first thing this morning in my dark kitchen as the youngest Beast slept several feet away in the Swing of Peace. There's a bit more to it than acounted for in this post, but I assure you it's easy (except for belt clips; those are a PITA). You can make a kydex press with some lumber, a couple of cheap hinges, and a yoga mat, but this press wasn't too spendy, so I went that route. Basically, for the price of a decent kydex holster, I have all the tools I need to make as many holsters as I want. Cooking is fun!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Disregarding the extreme amount of gun ignorance (Mosin Nagant being a "Russian M4" and "machine gun"), there's no sense in leaving firearms hung on a nail in plain sight in a crime ridden part of Philly. Lying to drug dealers and detectives to try to fix a jacked up situation puts this story over the top.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Nellis Air Force Base has an interactive commie weapon museum called the Threat Training Facility. If you've always wanted to sit in a Mig 29 and make machine gun noises with your mouth, here's your chance without going through Russian bootcamp and pilot training -- though getting paid in vodka doesn't sound all that bad.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

There's a thread at Pistol-Forum.com and a thread at ARFCOM covering this new holster. It's meant to be for AIWB carry, but would probably work just fine anywhere on the belt, as well as for other modes of carry. The ARFCOM thread is far less understanding towards the VG2, as there are many naysayers there that pooh-pooh AIWB carry in general. It's kind of like clicking on a "show your watch" thread and finding a bunch of morons posting pictures of their iphone.

Looking at the VG2, it seems to me that they were trying to make the original Vanguard holster adjust for ride height and give it better retention. It's the same thing I was going for with my modified Zack holster, but better executed.

The VG2 is also tuckable, and that's a big deal when you can get it, and with a projected cost of $40 or less it's a bargain. I'll have to try one before too long.

OK, more likely it was with HK 416s and belt fed weapons, but it's my post title and I can call it whatever I want!

Anyhow, Navy SEALs have been knocking off badguys left and right, and they managed to save a damsel in distress this time to boot. Save some for the rest of the military, guys! Dayummm! Good job though.

Two of my little people have raging ear infections, the other two have fevers, vomiting, and worse, and to top it off I wasn't feeling all that great, so I called out yesterday and took the kids to the doctor's office. One of my kids started throwing up on the sidewalk before we went in, so I knew it was going to be an adventure yesterday. Today is a full up extension of that adventure. My wife and I both called out sick, and there's a fountain of. . . .let's call it collectively "stuff" emitting from the kids. Tempers are high. It's going to be brutal.

Friday, January 20, 2012

I was goofing off with the kids downstairs last night and decided to take a break and check out all of my books on the bookshelf that don't have the time to read. I came across my rifle data books from my range qualifications in the Marines and thought it would be a fun (warning: profane) post. It really brought me back. You can see from my notes that my handwriting ability was proportional to the amount of coffee I had drank, and before you ask, yes, I talk to myself just like I do in my notes. Full disclosure and all.

There's some Microsoft Paint redaction going on there. Why do you neeeeeeed to know my social security number, anyways? I don't know if it's still like this, but in Marine Corps doctrine it's written somewhere that you must emblazon everything you touch with your SSN. I have a stack of certifications, awards, and promotions that have my SSN in Ariel Bold font front and center. Every one of them. I can't put up a love-me wall with all that stuff because of it, and you have to wonder what the legal-beagles at the JAG were thinking when they came up with this policy. Enough of my bitching - here's the Rifleman's Creed for y'all that want to know the whole thing:

Sorry about the blurry cellphone pics. Click on it to make it bigger and more beautiful.

Next up we have the four safety rules, which are slightly different than the NRA's version, but not too shabby. I've also included some tactically morbid doodling on my part - call it "Blue Falcon" carry (look that one up if you need to). Giving my utmost attention to an instructor with less time-in-grade than me is not my forte.

When you go to the range in the Marines it's a two week affair; the first week is basic instruction and "snapping in", which is dry firing thousands of times, and then a week of firing that includes zeroing your weapon. Unless you have stars on your collar, as far as I know, you have to go through the whole two week process every time. The data book is meant for you to keep track of your shooting throughout the week of firing, so that when your qualification day comes, you know how your rifle is performing.

The distances you shoot are at 200, 300, and 500 yards in the standing, sitting, kneeling, and prone positions. On the 500 yard line you only fire from the prone. To get an expert score, you must shoot for 40 points or better.

Those are all from the 200 yard line, and are not all inclusive. There are Marines in the pits pulling the targets and marking shots, and it can get screwed up down there; thus the reason why I'm belittling their work scoring my target. The entire target is a six foot square framed monstrosity with a canvas or plastic backing, and is chock full of shot holes. The paper target that's glued onto the backing is usually shot to shit, and when you're marking targets you place a spotting disk in the last shot to come through, and cover the old shot holes with colored stickers called pasters. Problem is, the Marine Corps is extremely poor, so you have to rip the pasters into little bits just big enough to cover **most** of the shot hole. After a week of shooting, it makes it impossible to cover the mess that is your target, and sometimes you can't tell where the shooter's bullet went through. Scoring errors are very common. Here's what the pits look like (pardon the clarity. Cellphone picture of a 35mm picture)

The 200 and 300 yard targets are in the lower target carriage, with the 500 yard target in the upper carriage. Everyone looks to be especially attentive (snicker!) The bottom picture shows a white shot spotter in the black, and a red scoring disk in the lower left corner.

Moving on to the 300 yard line:

When a round passes through the target you can hear the supersonic crack, but keeping in mind that there are about 150 Marines shooting all at once, it can get confusing knowing whether a shot came through your target or not. Also, it is not uncommon for a shooter to shoot the wrong target, either because they weren't paying attention, can't shoot, or, in the case of high-wind ranges like Edson Range, have a 35 mph wind blow a shot from the shooter next to you into your target. At it's worst, two shots can hit the target at the same time; go ahead and figure that one out for a score! You sometimes get to talk to the guys who either marked or shot your target, and when there's a problem (careers can sometimes be on the line) it can get interesting.

500 yard line:

On this particular day I was already at an expert score before I got to the 500, so there was no risk involved with shooting for headshots for fun; with little or no wind I could sometimes hit eight or more. It's actually possible to leave the 200 yard line with 40 points, but I'm convinced that it'll only happen when the planets are aligned. There's squib rounds, gusty winds, broken parts, and incompetence in the target pits to contend with for that to happen, or to even get a perfect score (it has happend though). I don't think there's any repeatability there though. I didn't win the title of Battalion High Shooter once because of a squib round, and I've had parts breakages as well. I've also had my shots not get marked at all, like the Marines running the target fell asleep or something. A couple of times, when the Marine next to me couldn't get his rounds on the target, I would tell him to aim at mine while I would put a few rounds in his target, though not on qualification day. That day was up to him. Here's what happens in the pits when Marines get bored:

Thursday, January 19, 2012

DALLAS (Reuters) - A 65-year-old woman made it past a checkpoint and onto a flight at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Wednesday with a revolver tucked away in her handbag, and was only stopped after the plane was called back to the gate, the airport said.

This post is probably going to be controversial.

Contrary to what news article commenters say ("Oh, if it makes us safe, it's okay!"), all of this TSA nonsense has nothing at all to do with real safety and everything to do with taxing citizens via fines and charges for accidentally breaking the law. It's the same as with New York City's gun laws; these laws are designed to generate revenue in the courts, not to stop badguys, and are only changed when enough of the non-criminal element get caught as to draw attention to the scheme. And despite what angry Americans may say about all of this and how evil it is, it was done with the consent of the populace.

There is no conspiracy, nor is there evil, when the very citizens who bitch about it let it come about in the first place. Just like in the game of Monopoly, if you want to sit at the table and play, you have to obey the rules; and that means that if your thimble lands on an arbitrary square that says "Go to Jail," than you send your piece to jail. It may be nonsensical, and no true crime was committed, but it's the rules. You land on the block, you have to pay a fare.

Back to the article, notice that the 65 year old woman was not only allowed through the checkpoint, but had already boarded the plane which was on its way to the runway. The planes were only turned around when somebody realized that a mistake was made. This very well could have added up to a Jack Bauer moment in the mind of some "security officer," but in the end it was a simple accounting error: the fare for carrying a handgun on a plane was not rendered. Disagree with me if you want, but the takeaway from this is that the goons in the blue shirts are not enforcing anti-constitutional gun laws as much as they are merely facilitating the collection of a tax -- the re-venuing of currency -- on compliant, consenting persons who asked for this very thing in the name of feeling secure.

"Did you see all the knives they caught that guy with? I'm glad they got him! I'll sleep soundly on my flight to El Paso knowing that that dangerous dude is behind bars!" Feeling safe is important to many people, and I don't blame them one bit. Feeling secure is a natural human desire, and getting it at someone else's expense can make it feel even more sweet. That's not the way I live by, but I've come to accept that that's the way it is, that the vast majority of the country feel that way, and the rules are made to suit them. When somebody's thimble ends up in the fictitious slammer, the other players say "HA!" and they play right past them, because that's how the game is played. Arguing against it is like trying to stop the sun.

Now, change the rules if it bothers you, sure. Good. Great. I'm all about it. But know that when you deny one funding stream, the government with find another, and will construct an organization tasked with taking up the collection. You say that marijuana should be legal? Cool beans, but there will need to be something given in kind because there are no free lunches. I'm on a hunch that pot will be legal in the next 5 or 10 years just as citizens want, and in return for this there will be an ever larger network of sex offender laws with an agency created to enforce it. Either that or, considering the sharply divided mindset of Americans, there will be crimes against the homeland used for government commerce. If you haven't noticed yet, the struggling economy is effecting the government as well, and the predictable reaction from it is to draw funds from areas both large and small, like SOPA for a large scale revenue generating function, and nitpicking citizens for random stuff like lightbulb disposal as an example of the small stuff.

Again, there are no free lunches, and there's nothing new under the sun. If you get what you want, you have to give something in kind. Choose wisely.

At SHOT Barnes Bullets anounced their new LRX lineup that includes a 127 grain bullet in 6.5mm. Word from a 6.5 Grendel forum member who talked to Barnes reps at SHOT is that the bullets not only offer a better B.C. for long range shooting, but offer expansion at velocities as low as 1,400 fps. If that's true, than it expands 400 - 600 fps slower than other hunting bullets on the market, which translates to an extra 200+ yards of killing range. At an advertised price of $38 for a box of 50, Barnes has made all this possible by making these bullets out of solid gold.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

After putting the kids to bed last night, I was gifted with something very rare: a couple hours of peace. With the 5th season of 24 playing softly in the background, I was able to load up my next batch of Nosler Custom Competitions for the 2nd phase of my OCW test.

After that I sized/deprimed the rest of my once-fired .264 LBC brass and primed them with Federal 205Ms. It's nice having prepped brass already on the bench; it saves time when you think up something to load, like 123 grain bullets a full grain over the book maximum.

When I was done reloading I thought I would slip off to bed, but I ended up comforting one of my kids who couldn't sleep due to coughing. Such is life.

I can't tell if my kids are just sickly, or have weak immune systems, or are continually getting similar germs that cause this mess, but it has to stop. I'm starting to think the US gov't has chosen my house as some sort of test bed for cold-like viruses. The amount of snot and coughing going on has reached epic proportions, and I feel terrible for my little people because they're so miserable. That, and rocking crying kids to sleep at all hours of the night is taking away from my beauty sleep.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Several residents note that carrying openly has been a deterrent against scumbags. There's also the fudd police chief noting that he doesn't have a "quarrel" with people carrying lawfully, and then goes on to paint these lawful residents as being part of the problem of shootouts in the streets. Perhaps if Detroit's police chief did a better job of preventing the shootouts, residents wouldn't feel they need to carry guns for protection.

I love this part:

Over a 24-hour span beginning Aug. 12, seven people were shot to death and nine others wounded. That prompted Mayor Dave Bing to issue a "call to action" to city residents to take a stand against crime.

By "taking a stand", I presume the mayor and his police chief mean to be quick on the cellphone when they're victimized, or to take good notes and be a better witness. What a joke.

"Be vigilant!!"

"Take a stand!!!"

"We need the citizens help!!!"

My question is: how? How does a man or woman do any of those things without the means to? It seems to me that the people the article is talking about have figured it out on their own, and the mayor and the chief are whimpering about it. Good.

I have to post this first: this was my view yesterday morning when I woke up:

I'll come back to that in a minute.

Friday I left work and started load development on the 123 grain Nosler Custom Competition bullets in 6.5mm. I used Benchmark powder this time instead of IMR 8208 XBR, partly because I love Benchmark so much, but also to take the .264 LBC in a new direction. I was rewarded for my efforts:

The groups are not tight at all, but in an OCW test that doesn't matter; you're not looking for groups, but whether several different charge weights have the same vertical point of impact, which the bottom three do. Yes, the bottom right load is over half a grain above the maximum load Hornady recommends, and if you do not know what you're doing, then do not try to duplicate my loads. Always start low and work your way up. I know this gun very well already, and I also know how to look for pressure signs.

With that said, I'm going to take the next step and narrow my charges down until I find the sweet spot, and then fiddle with seating depth. To be getting velocities over 2,500 in a 18" barreled gun with these bullets is significant, and in the future I may have to mess around with the Lapua Scenars again as there is still room left in the case with this powder.

Next up, I got invited to check out some land owned by a local hunt club, and if all goes well I'll be filling in a recent empty spot left by a previous hunter. While we were there, I got to shoot the MK12 down a power line at 652 yards, and I got to see what the 'ol girl is capable of. My first group with my handloads went into 6 inches, and as I was clicking off a second group, I was treated to the sight of a good sized black bear running across the power line at over 1,200 yards. Pretty cool. All of my other groups sucked right up until my last one, in which five shots (one of the shots from another shooter is circled) went into 2.8", four of them going into 1.3":

This is what's commonly referred to as a "refrigerator group", being a group that's noticeably tighter than any of the others. This is because either the shooter or the gun cannot produce a group like this on demand; in my case the former symptom being the relevant one. To be fair to myself, I was shooting off of a wobbly folding table, and would have done better firing prone with a rear sandbag. That wasn't an option due to the grass being so tall.

Going now back to the first picture, My family and I were invited by some wonderful friends to stay at their family's cabin up North in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. The cabin was amazing, as was the surrounding terrain:

I had to ask myself why we don't live in a place like this, as living where I do now is not where I want to be. On our way home yesterday, the further the car took us from the cabin, the more I wanted to turn around and go back. When we were only about two miles away, we stopped at an intersection in the middle of "town" to check our directions for about a minute and a half, and there were no other cars to be seen; nobody pulling up behind us and blowing the horn. Of the the half dozen cars we did pass, several of the drivers waved, and not with their middle fingers, either. Pulling into my subdivistion two hours later, I had to swerve to avoid being hit head on by yahoos who were busy watching what was going on in somebody's yard. Oh well.

It was a great weekend, and the kids had a good time. Now I'm thrown back into the work week, but at least it's only four days!

Friday, January 13, 2012

And behold! I looked, and there before me was the smallest Beast, clothed in a garment made of soft pastel blue linen, fastened with monochrome buttons of doom. He had the power to keep mankind awake for days and days on end, and on his gums were two crowns, razor sharp and white as the stars. Out of his mouth poured drool and partially digested Formula crafted by the inhabitants of the city called Costco, which stained the tunic of whom it contacted.

Then I heard the second Beast say "Dahrglah!" - his speech still bound by the Ninny from Nuk. A giant with sandy blonde hair and fiery blue eyes, wearing a large smile, he rode a horse called Corn Popper, and smell followed with him. His power was to terrify mankind by climbing to the top of everything in his sight, and to consume all the food and all the drink in his path, and to torment with Corn Popper. Then he poured out his bowl onto the land, and soggy Kix filled the carpet and soaked all who were near.

Then I saw the third Beast, and out of his mouth came an endless stream of words, a dialect far beyond his age. He wore a T-shirt and underoos, and wielded a furious temper. His power was to horde all manner of things, and to exhaust mankind with his energy and his words. And I saw the writing on his wall, and under his bed the souls of the crackers and fruit snacks that had been slain by the Beast because he would gather them while the other Beasts slept.

And behold, the fourth Beast! Riding a thousand stuffed stallions, in her hands were colored swords of wax and paper, and her power was to send forth a plague of stickers in all colors and sizes. There was no end to what the stickers adhered to: to the socks of men, and to the bedding, and to the furniture! The fourth Beast's stickers consumed everything, and her wax swords destroyed all the paper and counter-tops throughout the land!

The the two elder Beasts looked upon the four younger Beasts with bloodshot eyes and saw that it was good.

The Marine Corps did it right with the Woodland and Desert digital camo, as they realized early on that one pattern does not work in every environment. With that, the uniform is designed well, is rugged, and feels like pajamas compared to the starched Woodland BDU. If you've never had the pleasure of wearing the Army ACU, it's a shitty piece of shit; quite literally the opposite of the Marine Corps uniform. Going to the Multicam pattern was a smart move overall, I think, but now the Army is poised to piss away more funds on camouflage pattern trials.

"As the kids reached the front doors of my car, they turned to face it from both sides. I turned to look at the one on my left, made eye contact, raised my gun ever so slightly. His eyes widened, and he turned to run. I then looked to my right, and saw what was in the hand of the kid on the other side of the car. An ASP ."

I point out that it was his observance of his surroundings that was key to preventing the initiation of the attack; the pistol he had drawn played its part, but may not have been as effective, if at all, had the scumbag busted the window before he had noticed that he was a target.Also, be sure to read his list of key factors. I take #2 to be extremely common -- "It was in what is considered to be a safe area. A 'good part' of town." That right there is not only important for those who carry a sidearm, but it has major weight when you're talking to someone who is on the fence about carrying. I have found in conversation that people are blissfully unaware how scumbags look for "nice" neighborhoods and "safe" towns to commit their scumbaggery. This also goes against the argument that "I only carry when I'm going to a bad area." I got news for you, there's no such thing as a safe place in this world.I live in a "safe" area, in a state known for the crime level to be below the national average, and that doesn't keep the crazies from stabbetry or lunatics from robbery. Be prepared. Always.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I like to test things. If this isn't apparent from my reloading addiction, then I don't know what to tell you. I started this blog almost four years ago basically to test stuff, like the live fire test where I shot a kevlar vest with everything under the sun, and due to a good discussion with a dear friend I am now thinking about what else I can do to test what I consider to be the most misunderstood weapon in the world today: the shotgun.

There are many things stated in regards to this weapon that are perhaps not founded on reality, such as the ever popular "You don't have to aim!" when talking about buckshot in a home defense scenario, or "Just racking the slide makes all badguys wet their britches!," or "It'll knock a grown man clear off his feet!" I've heard these things from drunk old codgers since I was a boy, and I have my own take on them. I've even touched on the home scenario one recently, but it was by no means comprehensive, which is why my mind keeps wandering back to the half dozen sheets of fresh drywall that I'm not using in the basement.

The one I want to address first -- the one that involves my discussion with dear friend -- is that using a shotgun with buckshot is either more or less dangerous than a rifle when used while hunting in close proximity to other hunters. The discussion started over the use of semi-auto rifles vs. shotguns with buckshot; the pervasive thought is that since buckshot is less aerodynamic than a rifle round, with a known limited range, that they are safer to use in the described environment. This comes awfully close to the rant I made just the other day about "shotgun only" hunting areas, but differs in that we're talking specifically about buckshot. Just how pervasive is the thought about safety of shotgun only hunting areas? To again quote the study at that last link:

Of Pennsylvania’s approximate 900 miles of border with other states, it was found that the centerfire rifle was unlawful along the entire boundary with the exception of western Maryland. They found that in no case was any state able to provide definitive information upon which they based their decision. In fact, most reported that they simply responded to the public perception that shotguns were less dangerous than centerfire rifles. At that time, PGC staff found there was no data to support the contention that shotguns and muzzleloaders are any less risky than centerfire rifles. They found, instead, that in the “shotgun-only” states this appears to be “an issue driven by emotion and politics rather than sound scientific data.”2

The concept sits comfortably in the minds of people, but has no weight behind it. I believe it's bunk. To go even further, I have felt that a shotgun is an inherently more dangerous than a rifle in most situations, and have felt that way since I was a boy.

In my youth, I hunted with a group of men that were known to, at times, stretch the limits of safety. We often hunted with hounds, almost exclusively in fact, mostly of the long legged breeds like Walkers or Blueticks which covered lots of ground and pushed deer hard. When an angry hound is gnawing on Bambi's mommas legs at full stride, you can either shoot or you can't; these deer are running as fast as they can, with their bellies mere inches off the ground, and opportunity to get a shot off is extremely limited. In the backwoods of Virginia, the terrain can extremely thick, limiting visibility to several feet at best. They don't call it The Wilderness for nothing. When a deer drive covered one of these areas, a shotgun loaded with buckshot was often the weapon of choice.

Now, in the name of full disclosure, I've always kinda loathed buckshot for two reasons: one, in my mind, it runs counter to marksmanship; and two, in using it you can inadvertently violate rule #4 - be sure of your target and what is beyond it. Shooting buckshot while you're on the ground, all by your lonesome -- sure, it's not hard to keep all the rounds impacting somewhere safe if you happen to shoot some doe who's farting around, oblivious to you sitting up against a hay bale. When you're in close proximity to other living, breathing human beings, with limited visibility, shooting at a fleeting animal, choosing a weapon that fires fifteen rounds or more with every trigger pull in the rough direction of your quarry is not the best choice in my opinion. Yes, you have a higher probability of hitting your target, but with that comes a higher probability of hitting Sumdood who forgot his blaze orange that day.

It was rare occasion that I would tote just a shotgun into the woods on a hunt; most of the time it was slung on my back, with a more elegant weapon in my hands, one made for surgical shots. When hunting amongst other hunters while using a rifle, which obviously has more range, the first thing you do when you get to your place in the drive is to pick out your shooting lanes. These are the directions you are absolutely certain are safe to fire in, where you know that your round will stop someplace safe. Even as a wee lad, I knew this very well; you don't deviate from your shooting lanes for any reason. If a deer comes blowing by and goes into an area where you don't know for certain there's another hunter, you don't shoot. There were very few times I felt that I could shoot safely with buckshot, and when my old man would suggest I use one I would usually look at him like he was smoking crack.

Getting back into the discussion, the argument was going towards which weapon would be better/safer/less lethal/less inconvenient to get hit with if one of your rounds happened to go in the direction of another hunter or occupied area and struck somebody. I prefer my rounds to only go precisely where I aim them, but for argument's sake, how far are buckshot pellets dangerous for? I want to embark on a journey to find out. This may take awhile, but my intention is to chronograph and shoot different shotgun loads at distance, and do the math to find out how safe they really are. My firm belief right now is that buckshot is very much lethal out to at least 500 yards or more, which is why I don't subscribe to the common belief that they are only effective at short distances, and thus safe around other hunters.

I received a box of 6.5mm 123 grain Nosler Custom Competition bullets yesterday and I'm doing mental back flips trying to figure out what powder I'm going to put behind them.

Single base spherical powders like Winchester 748 or Accurate Arms 2520 will give me lots of velocity, but their downside is that they're temperature sensitive; the double base extruded powders are generally insensitive to temperature, though not as much of it fits in the case, lowering velocity. Fish or cut bait?

I've decided to stay with Hodgdon's Extreme lineup of powder, but I can't quite commit to a choice just yet. My options are H322, Benchmark, or H4895, all of which are made of awesome. Consulting with burn charts is about as accurate as talking to the dead, and despite there being a forum dedicated to the 6.5 Grendel, there's not much real data using any of these powders. Most folks are using IMR 8208 XBR like I am, but I came to the conclusion that though it's not temperature sensitive, it's sensitive to something, I'm guessing humidity.

There's no reason at all to not try a different powder with the new bullets, if only for the sake of science. I've already primed the once fired AA brass with (gasp!!) Federal Match primers, instead of the voodoo CCI Magnum primers that everybody and their brother uses. I've yet to see an adequate explanation for them, but that's what's recommended on every gun board. People sure can be fickle, or maybe I'm just a dumb-ass. We will soon see.

From the picture there, you can see the Nosler looks a touch shorter than the 123 grain Hornady AMAX and 123 grain Lapua Scenar, but that does come with its advantages: the super steep boattail and shorter length makes for more room in the case, which the .264 LBC is in need of. So that's the trade off -- a little more powder in exchange for a little less aerodynamics. So, fish or cut bait? The B.C. (ballistic coefficient) of the Custom Competition and AMAX is advertised at .510, while the Scenar comes in at .527, but those are for much higher velocities than the .264 LBC can give, making those numbers not as realistic as one would think.

Are you bored yet? If you haven't noticed, I'm the kind of guy who has ballistics charts just lying around. Just sitting there, all over the place. I'll find some coffee stained drop/drift table that I printed out 8 years ago for a caliber I no longer have, and after reading it over and over for a month, I realize that acquiring a firearm in that caliber will settle the problem that I've manufactured in my head. How much do I have in savings right now? Hmmmmm.

When I decide on a powder and start some load development, of course I'll take pictures and walk you through all the fun! Stay tuned!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

My advice to stop violence is to be a responsible man and prevent it from happening in the first place:

Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. - Luke 22:36

I decided to bend the rules tonight and go with a lamp instead of a candle because it puts out much more useful light. In that regard I also decided not to add another picture of a handgun, but instead a picture of the most useful and deadly tool that I have ever owned: my Marlin Glenfield Model 25, which has honed my shooting skills since I was six. I have shed more critter's blood and fired more rounds with this rifle than all the others combined. Easy. If given just one weapon to walk this world with for the rest of my life, there wouldn't be any hesitation, the Marlin it is.

Besides the rifle and accessories and book, the table is just as it was sitting where my kids play. I thought it was appropriate to use, stickers and dinosaurs and all, as on it rests an inert tool that know I can use with purpose to defend their lives. I keep a handgun for general defense, yes, but the Marlin is fairly capable and light, and would do the job if asked. More importantly, I could feed my family with it for several months with just one $3 box of cartridges, and that matters the most to me.

I had forty minutes to spare yesterday evening -- I had hoped for more, but life can be like that sometimes -- so I ran 150 rounds of my 124 grain +P Speer Gold Dots through the P30 to ensure that they function reliably. There are those who say to run 500 or more for that, but I personally feel that anywhere from 100 - 200 rounds is adequate. If you're going to have a problem with a specific load, you'll find out rather quickly.

The sun had been below the treeline for over a half an hour before I fired the last of what I had, so I got to see if there was a flash from this load. There wasn't. I had some old Gold Dots that I think were the short barrel version, and they flashed some, and I had a partial box of 124 grain +P XTPs from Black Hills, and they flashed a lot. I always prefer to test the flash of my carry loads in low light, as with the Nuclear 1911 it was a huge problem. For that reason, I won't carry anything that makes fireballs, as I don't want to be blinded in the rare chance that I would need to shoot to save my life at night.

The Gold Dot bullet breaks into bigger pieces when it hits steel, and I could hear and see bits of it raining down with every shot. Last night was also when I discovered that my weak-hand shooting left much to be desired. I did fine with my strong hand, but had a hard time keeping shots on steel with my left. My draw times were hovering between 1.56 and 1.65 seconds from concealment under a T-shirt. Much quicker than from under a long hoodie. I also put up a cardboard target with a 6" shoot-n-C target to find out where my carry load hits at 30, 40, and 50 yards. I'll take it out all the way to 100 yards one day when I have the time. It's good to know where it hits, just in case.

As you can see, it hits a little to the right, but my grouping was OK considering I was resting my forearms on the back of a cracked lawn chair. I'll have to adjust that to center later.

All in all, I've put 1,112 rounds through this pistol without any problems.

I'm going to start reloading for 9mm in bulk very soon, and I have to place a bunch of orders for powder, primers, and bullets. I have more 9mm cases than I can count, so there's some savings there. I estimate that my cost per 1,000 rounds will run about $110. Time will tell.

A couple of days ago I was loading up some .264 LBC while watching 24 on DVD, and I thought a picture would be appropriate:

Yes, I'm a dork for 24; I have every season including the special 2-hour specials. Something you might not know is that Jack Bauer used a Sig in the first couple of seasons before switching over to a USP. It's old vs new in this pic, and one day I think I'll pickup a USP.

To wrap this up: I decided not to go for the 2,000 round challenge, and cleaned the pistol as it will be some time before I can start cranking out reloads. I'll probably document that when I do it.

Some things I took away from this video: the Glock firing confirmed what I had heard previously about the weird ejection pattern that Glocks often have. I had read somewhere from somebody in the firearms industry that slow motion footage shows the empty cases hitting all over the ejection port, making them fly in many different directions. This would be why random cases come back and smack the shooter in the face. Why Glock decided to dicker around with the recoil springs instead of lowering the ejection port on Gen 4 guns is anyone's guess. See how clean the other hadguns throw their cases?

The other thing I noticed can be seen during footage of a shooter firing a full auto battle rifle: the bullet leaves the barrel and recoil shoves the shooter back well before the bolt unlocks, which is why unsupported automatic gunfire (not in a tripod) goes up and to the right. The last time I had to qualify on the M240B, we didn't have a tripod handy, so I had to shoot off the bipods. Getting a passing score was a bitch, even with me putting all my weight into those bipods, and I had to try a couple of times to pass.

The sound of the 30mm cannon of the A-10 being fired is almost supernatural. It sounds like the sky is being torn in two:

You hear the explosive rounds impacting first, followed by the demonic snarl of the gun's report.

The 20mm cannon on the front of a AH-1W SuperCobra sounds menacing as well; the first time I hear one I thought it was some great Norse war horn or something. And once while watching the stars over Ramadi while enjoying a tasty cigarette I saw a bright red thunderbolt looking monster grow in the sky. It scared me for a second because I had no earthly idea what it was until I heard that tearing sound, and then I heard the twin turbine engines from a F/A-18E SuperHornet. Would not want one of those shooting at me.

This post is many parts; the lesser of the post being the first, which is that coyotes in King George's county, Virginia are now in an almost continuous open season, and hopefully this will extend to other surrounding counties, as my county is starting to see their population increase. I take issue with some parts of this ordnance, the main one being that if you use a rifle, it has to be larger than .22 caliber. I'd love to see some evidence of how this regulation was established, and would enjoy seeing some bureaucrat publicly defend it. It's asinine. If you frequent predator forums, you'd be hard pressed to miss that hunters note the faster calibers being the ones that put coyotes down quickly, and thus "ethically" like the DGIF official wants. The gist of it is hunters have had well hit coyotes run off after being hit with larger calibers with less velocity, and anchored them well with the same hits with zippy small caliber rifles. Call it what you want, but there's definitely a trend. My guess is that this regulation is put here now to make sure that icky AR rifles don't end up being the killing tool for coyote hunters.

I'm going to go off on a tangent for a minute: this caliber restriction applies to whitetail deer hunting as well, and I've never seen any scientific evidence or studies that show that .22 caliber bullets are less effective than anything larger. The .223 Remington cartridge is a premier deer round in states where it's lawful, but general public ignorance and baseless ordinances have led them to be demonized. I've argued this with people for years, and none of them can offer anything other than "it's not powerful enough." Do you have proof of that claim, because I've seen evidence that says otherwise.

Interestingly enough, many hunters that I've known throughout the years who subscribe to this bullshit tote a magnum caliber rifle that they can't shoot because they flinch with it on every shot, and believe it has more "knockdown power" because it's so biiiiiiiiiiiig. I've tracked a ton of hit deer for them, too, some of them where the hunter felt confident to shoot a 180 lb running doe square in the ass because their cartridge case has a belt, and that bullet will definitely make it to the vitals, sure. "IT'S A GREAT BRUSH GUN!!!!" - my personal favorite. To be blunt, I've tracked more dog-sized Virginia deer hit with a magnum than I can count, but never had to track one hit with a .22 Hornet, .22 Magnum, or .220 Swift. I don't account this fact to the caliber, but to the fact that the trigger man did his job and hit them properly, and did not rely on 30 extra grains of powder, 2 more millimeters, and piss poor shooting to get the job done. Just to ensure that this dead horse is adequately beaten, if you claim that to use a .223 Remington or other similar caliber cartridge on deer, you have to "hit them just right," you are implying that using a larger cartridge means that you don't have to hit them just right. Get it?

Good. Moving on.

The "no hunting on Sundays" is an archaic regulation that needs to be repealed. I don't know where it comes from, but to my knowledge folks believe that God will be angry with them if they're in their treestand on Sunday vice raking leaves or fixing the sink. The Lord didn't smite David for eating the showbread, and I don't think He will condemn Elmer Fudd for sending a ballistic tip through Wile E's guts. If you believe otherwise, then I invite you on a witch hunting journey with me in Salem. It'll be swell! My county this year has had a continuous doe-day this hunting season in a vain effort to control the population, and if they let hunters hunt one more day out of the week, a balance in the herd might be struck. The insurance companies would surely be happy with this concept, as they wouldn't have to shell out millions every year because of all the deer hit by vehicles.

Next up on my list of shit I don't like is this:

King George doesn’t allow the use of high-powered rifles during hunting season. Bullets fired by more powerful weapons travel farther, and that can be dangerous in areas with dense populations or flat terrain, which is the case in King George.Caroline County has the same restriction.

Now, this DOES NOT apply to shooting coyotes in the county -- it's for deer hunters -- but going off on a tangent again (I can do that, you know) I note that this is an asinine regulation, and it's one that plagues many counties around mine. Whoever came up with this should be kicked in the balls. The concept is that rifles are dangerous because the bullet has the potential to go further, so some counties only allow hunting with shotguns and muzzleloaders. The problem with that is that that concept is baseless:

Of Pennsylvania’s approximate 900 miles of border with other states, it was found that the centerfire rifle was unlawful along the entire boundary with the exception of western Maryland. They found that in no case was any state able to provide definitive information upon which they based their decision. In fact, most reported that they simply responded to the public perception that shotguns were less dangerous than centerfire rifles. At that time, PGC staff found there was no data to support the contention that shotguns and muzzleloaders are any less risky than centerfire rifles. They found, instead, that in the “shotgun-only” states this appears to be “an issue driven by emotion and politics rather than sound scientific data.”2

You mean to tell me that laws and regulations subjected on Pennsylvanians was born out of politics and emotion instead of facts? Weird. Don't quote me, but I think this sort of shenanigans has happened elsewhere in the country.

Anyhow, the conclusion from the linked study from Pennsylvania is that shotguns are "more risky" when fired from the ground at a zero degree angle, and Paw Paws 30.06 is "more risky" when fired at an angle, such as from a treestand -- but the risk factor in the study is based on the "danger zone" after the projectile has ricocheted, which is based entirely on the distance that it travels. My point is that who cares if the round ricochets one mile or ten: it's one bullet, and it's dangerous no matter how far it goes before it lands. It would be different if the bullet rained death down on everything below it during its brief flight, whereas the further and longer it flies, the more harm is done. That's not the case though; what we're talking about here is if a hunter fires a rifle at a deer, and the bullet skips off a rock and heads out of the pasture, that if it strikes Timmy in his back yard a thousand yards away it's "more safe" than if the round came down and struck grandma in the next county. Sorry, but that dog don't hunt.

According to the PA study, the criteria for the "danger zone" came from studies done by the US military on the ricochet distance for small arms for military ranges. So yeah, a two mile danger zone behind Edson Range is a good idea because thousands of Marine recruits fire millions of rounds there, and all those rounds will fall in a predictable area. Finding out how big that area is and making sure some developer doesn't build a Kroger there is in the public's interest. How this somehow applies to Elmer and his carbine is anyone's guess; I just don't see how a shotgun slug bounding half a mile is less dangerous than a .30 caliber Accubond skipping two miles. The telling part to me is the chart on page 26, where it shows that the probability of a rifle round ricocheting when fired at a 10 degree down angle is 38%, and the probability of a .50 round from a muzzloader or a shotgun slug ricocheting from the same angle is 91%; what I get from this is that there's less chance of an errant projectile to begin with if I stick with a rifle, damn the distance it flies. Go ahead and look that chart over real well. See how much more probable a ricochet is when you don't use a rifle?

It seems to me that we have the dumbest possible people struggling to make public policy, which I guess is better than letting them figure it out on their own using common sense, or worse, emotion.

At times he shows it just to amuse us, like in this video from an ARFCOM thread where an opportunistic thug is robbing what looks like a drug store, and hasn't noticed the cop standing in line behind him. Awesomeness!

I mean, there you are on a boring night shift with nothing to look forward to but endless domestic violence calls when you swing in to CVS for a Redbull, and no shit, this little scumbag standing three feet from you starts robbing the clerk at the register. There's no investigative work needed, no looking at cameras, no interviewing witnesses - you get to pull your gun and stuff it in that shit's face, right before repeatedly slamming his resisting ass into the floor and into the parking lot. I'm OK with this. This is how my idea of law enforcement plays out in my head.

I could only imagine the conversation the cop had with his peers at the station later on.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

A building two doors over is under construction and police said the suspect used that. He took the tools that were left behind to break through a wall to get inside the seafood eatery. But then he kept going and broke through another wall, police said, to get into another room where he thought the money was.

I'm surprised it took this long for crooks to figure this out. A brick wall is fairly easy to bust through with a sledgehammer, with reinforced concrete being the only serious barrier for criminals to get through. Residential homes are even easier - in VA in the 90's, many homes being built were only required to have plywood on the corners; the only thing separating a scumbag from your nifty watch collection was plastic siding and foam insulation, all of which can be breached quietly with a utility knife. Knowing this, I used to shake my head at builders who would turn around and install solid oak front doors with six pin locks, to say nothing of sliding glass doors and vinyl windows.

Very few structures in this country will keep out a determined crackhead with primitive tools. If you're shopping for barrier security from Lowes and Home Despot, know that it's only temporary at best.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

I just saw the trailer for Liam Neeson's new movie The Grey, and it looks saaahweeet! When I think of a SHTF scenario, I don't envision being all tactical clad, beebopping down the street with my 15 lb AR rifle in my Wiley-X gloved hands like I'm cool; I picture something along the lines of this movie.

An ambulance breaks down in Detroit, and the EMTs record all the New Year's gunfire going on around them. They (EMTs) were unarmed, stopped cold in the middle of the road in the dark during all of this. Terrifying. While I'm sure it's already unlawful, EMTs should have a personal firearm with them at all times, especially in cities like Detroit.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

The shooting renewed debate about a federal law that made it legal to take loaded weapons into national parks. The 2010 law made possession of firearms subject to state gun laws.

Bill Wade, the outgoing chair of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said Congress should be regretting its decision.

"The many congressmen and senators that voted for the legislation that allowed loaded weapons to be brought into the parks ought to be feeling pretty bad right now," Wade said.

This piece of jackassery is in response to the sociopathic gunman who shot and killed a Park Ranger at Mount Rainier park shortly before stripping off what little protective clothing he had and wandering around until he died from exposure. The madman obviously didn't read the law, as shooting up house parties and federal agents and blowing through police checkpoints is illegal. If we are to take Mr. Wade seriously, the gunman may still have left the scene of his previous shooting with his guns, but would have stopped cold when he reached the boundary of the park, as violating firearms law is all illegal and shit.

It's a wonder why his "misconduct discharge", domestic violence charges, pending mental health evaluation, and restraining order didn't bar him from owning firearms. Maybe there should be some laws there which would certainly have prevented this tragedy just like keeping parks gun free would have. It's only common sense.

This past Saturday I met up with Andy and JB Miller and others for some down-on-the-farm range time, and it was just what we all needed. This marked the first occasion where I got to shoot a suppressed weapon: a Ruger MKII with integral suppressor. That thing is ridiculously quiet, to the point where you get to hear the full sound of the .22 round smacking steel without the encumbrance of muzzle report. I want a suppressor so bad I can taste it.

We shot pistols for awhile first thing that morning to let the dew burn off. I'm happy to report that the P30's flawless round count now stands at 922 rounds, most of it being the 115 grain Federal FMJ that I picked up from ammoforsale.com, which I earlier called "POS" which it isn't; all of it has fired well. From reading up on the LEM trigger, I find that I'm doing it wrong, which explains my tendency to sometimes drop shots low. I will now practice the "rolling trigger" technique to see if it helps my accuracy.

I remembered to bring ammo for the MK12 this time, and it was grouping pretty well at 250 yards. When I first dragged it out, I was proned out on my yoga/impostor shooting mat with the bipod legs set on the ground. After the shooters to my left touched off some .308 Winchester rounds and the blasty concussion was felt, I backed up on the mat a ways and the bipod legs were sitting on it, causing some bounce that is evident in the groups. Even with that, we were holding everything within 2" to 3", and Andy had five or six shots in a row touching. I can't wait to stretch the MK12's legs out even further now that I know it can really shoot.

The Miller's AR10B was hammering steel out to the 250 yard target with ease; everyone that shot it commented on how tight the sights were, and how effortless it was to shoot and get hits. That's why the AR platform is so popular, and known for outstanding accuracy. The Mosin Nagant carbine was again a crowd pleaser, but for different reasons I believe. To me, the rifle is like the .22 rimfire of the battle rifle world, like a fire-and-forget weapon. Ammo is stupid cheap, and being steel cased you could care less about where it ejects. It's also designed specifically for that rifle, so there's no worry about groups or vertical stringing or any of the other stuff that comes with precision rifles. The little carbine was fired until it was scalding hot, ringing the 100 yard steel offhand several times out of ten shots. My guesstimate from the shell casings that made it into my range bag put the round count close to 200 rounds. Recoil from the beast is fierce, with the small profile steel buttplate jamming into your shoulder with each shot. Good times.

The grand finale was when Andy set up fruit for us to shoot. Exploding fruit is fun that has to be experienced, and we were all smiling at the end of the day. Thanks for the trip, Andy!